Wednesday, October 15, 2014
NHL Social Media Experience
#ThrowbackWednesday Another old post I never put online. The NHL and Nascar were having some pretty unique social issues a year or two ago.
People are spending a finite amount of time online every day, and increasingly that time is being eaten up on the social networks," said DiLorenzo. "We need to increase our share of people's time when they're on Facebook.
People are spending a finite amount of time online every day, and increasingly that time is being eaten up on the social networks," said DiLorenzo. "We need to increase our share of people's time when they're on Facebook.
- Mike Dilorenzo, Director of Social Media Marketing and Strategy, NHL
Whether it's a high-traffic website charging nice premiums for digital real estate for banner ads (or access to its email subscription lists), or twenty minutes of teasers and previews shown to a packed movie theater on a Friday night, organizations profit by selling advertising opportunities to third parties. Even if the Predators capture an increase in paid ticket sales to non-Blackhawks games this year as a result of this gimmick, that will amount to a paltry three games with increased paid sales, out of a possible 41 home games. Are the Predators kidding with this "we're going to build ticket grosses" off the backs of out of town fans, who may or may not pay for tickets to three stinking games? Look, every penny counts, no doubt, but will increasing paid attendance at less than 10% of your home games really matter to potential corporate partners or sponsors? Do the potential corporate partners and/or sponsors even care about whether or not the eyeballs at the game to whom they get an opportunity to market their widgets even paid to be there? Or do they just care that they're there, and that they (the sponsors) will get advertising opportunities?
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The League
The National Hockey League is the franchisor of 30 Professional Men's Hockey leagues, 23 in the U.S. and 7 in Canada. During last year's 48 game season the biggest annual attendance came out of Chicago: 522,619. The lowest? NY Islanders at 319,362. For both teams 2013 brought record breaking TV ratings. Attendance was up. TV ratings were up. Lockouts were over (great news for a league that leads the big 4 in games cancelled). More women were watching, but still very few minorities. In fact, the NHL has the least diversified audience of the big 4. The audience is young, white, and increasingly wealthy. Life is good for winning teams.
The league's general social strategy is make it more fun to be a fan. More fun means more eyes on the screens, butts in the seats, corporate sponsors, suite sales, etc. etc. The teams social strategy is to engage. In 2005, the year after Facebook was created, the Dallas Stars finished 2nd in the Western Conference Rankings at season's end and 13th in league wide attendance. Fast forward to present day Dallas, the Stars are 8th in the Western Conference and second to last in attendance league wide. Long story short: if you want attendance, win.
The league's general social strategy is make it more fun to be a fan. More fun means more eyes on the screens, butts in the seats, corporate sponsors, suite sales, etc. etc. The teams social strategy is to engage. In 2005, the year after Facebook was created, the Dallas Stars finished 2nd in the Western Conference Rankings at season's end and 13th in league wide attendance. Fast forward to present day Dallas, the Stars are 8th in the Western Conference and second to last in attendance league wide. Long story short: if you want attendance, win.
3 million Facebook fans. Fresh ink on a multi-billion dollar contract with Canada's Rogers networks. Winter classics. The only must watch of this year's Winter Olympics. It's when we bring the world together like this that we remember - This sport is an international game.
More than 33% of the players hail from outside North America. Forget the populations of America and Canada, the NHL has the chance to connect Hanz to Alvid, Alvid to Vladimir, and Vladimir to Gustaf! And anyone who's been to a hockey game knows they're as live as any other league. Social networks can put this experience on steroids! Pictures, Tweets, in-game promotions, all from the screens - in your hands - away from the games - on the ice - in front of you - that you paid for - ....
The question is out and opinions are in:
Should Social Media play a role in the arena experience of Major League sports?
Mark Cuban (Mavs owner, NBA): “No question people use their phones and devices at games, but they use them when they are bored. They don’t want more reasons to use them. They want fewer.”
Vivek Ranadive (Kings owner, NBA): “The future is about giving people an extremely contextual experience. People love to play games and they love to participate.”
Luis Perez (Chief Financial Officer, Detroit Lions, NFL): “We have something the at-home experience will never have,” he says. “That sense of community, that vibe, that energy. There’s something about the stadium you can’t replicate at home.”
The NHL has made their stance clear: encourage dialogue to make the game more enjoyable for people watching at home. Head of Social Media for the league, Dilorenzo launched the NHL Fans initiative this past year, collecting blogs, fan, and team content from all sorts of networks. Fans can enter themselves for Stanley Cup tickets by submitting photos by tagging @nhl #NHLFanFreeze. This is the number 1 photo as up voted by fans thus far.
"The NHL has done a great job of getting into the mind of fans to understand how, when and where to engage with them," Dolak said. "That means that the mobile, on-the-go fan wants access to their team, despite not being near a desktop computer.”
Entry rules for the contest? Check.
Promotion of phone applications? Check?
More fun to be an NHL fan? ...
"Social Media for the NHL will continue to expand beyond traditional platforms and encompass a full-strategy approach to leveraging mobile platforms, including social, apps and responsive design in a way that empowers fans to talk hockey 24/7,"
"Social networks aren't about Web sites. They're about experiences," said Mike DiLorenzo, director of social media marketing and strategy for the NHL.
The Teams
Saint Louis Blues
Players
For the general public ordering from the NHL online, here’s the top 20 Jersey sales:
1. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins (FB: None TW: None)
2. Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings (FB: 360k TW: 163k)
3. Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks (FB: 37k TW: 13k)
4. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals (FB: None TW: 700k)
5. Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks (FB: None TW: 450k)
6. Ryan Callahan, New York Rangers (FB: None TW: 2,100)
7. Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers (FB: 11k TW: 276k)
8. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers (FB: 148k TW: 325k)
9. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins (FB: 12k TW: 391k)
10. Milan Lucic, Boston Bruins (FB: None TW: 30k)
2. Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings (FB: 360k TW: 163k)
3. Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks (FB: 37k TW: 13k)
4. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals (FB: None TW: 700k)
5. Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks (FB: None TW: 450k)
6. Ryan Callahan, New York Rangers (FB: None TW: 2,100)
7. Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers (FB: 11k TW: 276k)
8. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers (FB: 148k TW: 325k)
9. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins (FB: 12k TW: 391k)
10. Milan Lucic, Boston Bruins (FB: None TW: 30k)
Conclusion
Personally, I'm not sold. I'm a new fan of international soccer. I didn't start watching because r/soccer is such a great community, or @Christiano's tweets make my heart melt. I have a group of friends who talk the game up big, I gave it a chance, and the entertainment pulled for. Mr. Ibrahimovic, Mr. Messi, the Reds, the Blues, the nonsense of Mr. Mourinho, Mr. Ibra!!! I love the pace of the game, the culture, the players, the way tournaments are set up. None of that would matter if I didn't have a group of friends to talk about it, play FIFA, and feel the love. Maybe the NHL's social media policies and online hubs will draw me to the game. I'm open to hearing more about Mr. Oshie, seeing some highlights of the goliath Mr. Chara, but if I'm going to interact on social networks with teams, the league, players, I need to know some of the content I share is welcomed by at least one person in my network. And again, this is just me, but what the data says is similar. The league has a valuable group audience. A...not so diverse valuable audience. How could more people not like this?
Seeing average ticket prices, attendance, audience, and engagement significantly higher in Canada has to influence the social strategy moving forward. If the idea is to show people the real love of the game, the passion, the emotion that makes the NHL playoffs the best of the big 4, the league need not look past our buddies up North. Put them in control of the content. Make it a border war. Fizzology has tracked city engagement, lockout buzz, playoff buzz, social buzz and - surprise - Canada wins. "We're looking for new cities to put a team and trying to get a better feel for general team sentiment, use your city's name in NHL tweets to give us a better feel." #NHLSeattle #NHLCanadaCity1 #NHLCanadaCity2. Ask them to set up names, draw stadiums, build rosters. Show me the love!
For Americans the data is even more clear. If you want an audience, win.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-16/the-nfl-wants-all-its-stadiums-to-have-wi-fi-by-2016
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-13/nba-owners-mark-cuban-and-vivek-ranadive-disagree-about-smartphones-at-the-baskbetball-arena (Cuban vsRanadive)
http://www.prsa.org/Intelligence/Tactics/Articles/view/9415/1036/The_Chicago_Blackhawks_director_of_media_relations#.UxOZTvRdW-o (Blackhawks Marketing Interview)
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/nhl-least-diverse-most-advertiser-friendly-tv-audience-194010102--nhl.html (Diversity issues for the NHL)
Social Media Tools List
Here's an old list that was set to Draft in this blog. Don't remember collecting these so it must have been at least a year, but a list nonetheless.
Twitter Marketing Partners: Better targeting and smarter campaign management.
Facebook Preferred Marketing Directory: Make it easier to run efficient Facebook campaigns.
Mention: Respond whenever your business is mentioned online.
Addvocate: Encourage popular employees to talk about the organization.
Swayy: Feeds you stuff your audience will enjoy.
Compfight: Search pictures you can use (legally).
Tagboard: Make Pinterest looking boards full of assigned hashtags.
ManageFlitter: Find twitter users based on location or interest.
SocialBakers: Competitive intelligence on Social.
PostPlanner: Facebook curation and publication.
Komfo: A Social Suite. The Facebook Analytics are different than Facebook Insights and very useful. Does most everything mentioned above, plus offers a suite of custom applications.
Rignite: Social campaigns and monitoring with a focus on employee collaboration.
SocialOomph: Tweet scheduling.
Zapier: Integrate your applications. Paypal e-mails into a Mailchimp campaign? Done.
Talkwalker: Monitoring and analytics.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
The Man vs. Food Effect?
What happens to Yelp reviews after your restaurant airs on Travel's Man vs. Food?
Yelp Page
Aired: 08/05/2009
Yelp rating: 3.5 Stars
1 review before episode aired, 91 after.
25 of the 91 reviews mention Man vs. Food.
Average rating for posts mentioning Man vs. Food : 3.36
Difference in review average: -.14
Only 4 of the 23 5 star reviews mentioned Man vs. Food
Half of all 2 star reviews mentioned Man vs. Food
Takeaway: Man vs. Food doesn't break reviews, but it does make them. More than a fourth of all reviews came from Travel Channel viewers. Interesting to see just one 1 star review from the viewers, maybe seeing the owner behind the scenes has reviewers showing mercy.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
The Argument for Google+ As Your Website
- Google+ is the first social network shown to people searching for your business.
- Google Reviews are shown prominently when your offer is Googled (i.e. pizza in Brooklyn, NY)
- Your listing is ranked (partly) on the availability of information you've made available to Google and the number of reviews on your business.
So, if it's true that 97% of people have Googled a small business, why not host your businesses' online presence on Google+? Promote Google Reviews, delete your Facebook, and let your business be a beautiful piece of the 97%'s Googling experience.
I love how Google+ shows how many visits have been made to your page. How many of you actually keep tabs on web traffic? With the view count on every Google+ page you'll at least have a sense of reach. And the numbers are big! I pulled these views numbers from local businesses with 10 reviews or less:
- Sciarrino's Pizza - 7 reviews - 66k views
- Season's Pizza Newport - 4 reviews - 136k views
- Pizza Pro - 8 reviews - 55k views
Point is, if you don't want to worry about a Facebook a Twitter a Pinterest a Website - don't. The only thing that will happen is Google will make it easier for your business to be found. Create Events, share photos & new offers, and respond to reviews.
Start on Google+
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Space, Local Business and the Sharing Economy
The Sharing Economy (sometimes also referred to as the peer-to-peer economy, mesh, collaborative economy, collaborative consumption) is a socio-economic system built around the sharing of human and physical assets. (wikipedia)Individuals share their homes. We share transportation, tools and advice. The Sharing Economy is a willingness driven market. I've purchased something you want to use and I'm willing to lend it to you, sometimes for a fee. It's interesting to see how much we have to share. Listing spare bedrooms, any asset really, so someone you don't know can make use of your property or knowledge. It's interesting to see small businesses on the sidelines.
For big business a new trend has emerged. A business model known as Open Innovation. Big companies share knowledge and unused patents to bring new products and services to the market. But we're not talking about big companies with pools of patents. We're talking about local businesses. I wonder how your business could share unused merchandise, inventory, knowledge and space to create unbelievable value for an organization that needs it. It could be a charity, a school, another small business, elderly blonde women - anything.
Could your business double as a drop spot for a local shoe drive? Could you reward customers with discounts based on charitable donations, not repeat business?
Happy sharing.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Local Business Collaboration: Water Ice Meets Bread
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| Black Lab (left) featured with Fusco's (right) |
Black Lab Breads is a family owned bakery just up the street from my house. Bread is tough on my stomach. Worth all the stomach aches.
The families know each other well. They're both staples of the community. They respect each other, not for their business acumen, but for their quality. People work at Fusco's. People work at Black Lab Breads. These people have taste buds. Their taste buds tell them the water ice is fresh and the bread is delicious. No outside reviews needed for this issue.
So how have the used this tasty knowledge to their advantage? They show each other love. They show the community love. And the community can't help but show love for 2 icons rubbing shoulders. There may be some shoppers of Fusco's who have never had Black Lab Breads. How do you think they'll receive it when they see 10 people commenting on the quality - on a different businesses' page!
In return Black Lab could have included Fusco's in an e-mail blast, they may not have responded at all. The point is Fusco's showed respect for a community staple, and the community supported the message.
Take this example here and amplify it with an organized campaign on Social Local. Share customers locally. Rub shoulders with community staples.
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